New books to get you the heck out of 2020 ✈️

19 New Historical Fiction Books You Won't Be Able To Put Down This Fall

Escape 2020 and head to 19th century Boston, 18th century London, 1940s NYC, post-WWII Korea, and more, with these new and forthcoming books.

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13 Spectacular Young Adult Books From Independent Publishers

40 YA Novels That Come Out In The First Half Of 2021 That We're Already So Excited For

Longer reads

Mena Massoud On His New Book Evolving Vegan

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Fun & quizzes

Here Are 19 Men Who Clearly Do Not Know A) A Woman's Worth, B) A Woman's Anatomy, And C) A Woman In General

Most High School Graduates Can't Pass This Ninth-Grade Shakespeare Test — Can You?

For your reading list

Credit: Orbit

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart

Every child in the empire has a slice of bone carved from their necks for future use in the emperor's magic. A few children die every year from the procedure. The emperor uses these bone shards to create monstrous constructs that serve as his spies, military, and servants. Lin, the emperor's daughter, wants to ensure she inherits her father's kingdom, but he refuses to teach her bone shard magic until she remembers her past — which she's forgotten since her mysterious illness.

Her story intersects with others in the empire: Jovis is a smuggler bringing children away from the empire before their bone shard ceremonies. Ranami is a member of the Shardless Few, rebels fighting against the empire, and Phalue is the corrupt governor's daughter. Phalue wants to marry Ranami, who keeps denying her, while Ranami wants Phalue to see how her life of privilege comes at the cost of other people's lives and happiness. These stories collide in this action-packed, must-read epic fantasy, where a leader who claims to protect his people is, in fact, power-hungry and corrupt, and it's up to those who chose ethics over power to reimagine the empire. It's one of the best debut fantasy novels of the year, and I'm eagerly looking forward to the second book in the series. Get your copy. —Margaret Kingsbury

This Week in Virtual Book Events:

Sept. 13-19

TODAY: Sunday, Sept. 13

Editors Mark Eisner and Tina Escaja celebrate the launch of Resistencia: Poems of Protest and Revolution, with music, readings, and discussion from Carolina De Robertis, Romina Funes, Jack Hirschman, Rebeca Lane, Jessica Powell, and more — hosted by City Lights, 2 p.m. PT, more info.
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi discusses A Girl Is a Body of Water with Tayari Jones — hosted by Powell's, 2 p.m. PT, more info.
Helen Macdonald discusses Vesper Flights with J. Drew Lanham — hosted by Books & Books, 1 p.m. ET, more info.

Monday, Sept. 14

Sigrid Nunez discusses What Are You Going Through with Curtis Sittenfeld — hosted by Politics & Prose, 7 p.m. ET, more info.
Yaa Gyasi discusses Transcendent Kingdom with Julie Buntin — hosted by Literati, 7 p.m. ET, more info.
Sarah Weinman (Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit, and Obsession) and BuzzFeed News editor Jessica Garrison (The Devil's Harvest: A Ruthless Killer a Terrorized Community & the Search for Justice in Californias Central Valley) discuss their new books — hosted by Powell's, 5 p.m. PT, more info.

Tuesday, Sept. 15

Helen Macdonald discusses Vesper Flights with Margaret Renkl — hosted by Parnassus Books, 6 p.m. CT, more info.
Sarah Mirk discusses Guantánamo Voices: True Accounts from the World's Most Infamous Prison with contributors Tracy Chahwan, Gerardo Alba, Alexandra Beguez — hosted by Skylight Books, 6:30 p.m. PT, more info.
Angela Chen discusses Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex with Jess Zimmerman — hosted by Charis Books, 7:30 p.m. ET, more info.

Wednesday, Sept. 16

Michael Ian Black presents A Better Man: A (Mostly Serious) Letter to My Son in conversation with Liz Plank — hosted by Greenlight Bookstore, 7:30 p.m. ET, more info.
Jami Attenberg discusses All This Could Be Yours with Susan Choi — hosted by Women & Children First, 7 p.m. CT, more info.
Stacey Abrams, author of Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America, joins Raquel Willis in conversation about women and electoral power — hosted by Brooklyn Historical Society, 7:30 p.m. ET, more info.

Thursday, Sept. 17

Sophie Yanow discusses The Contradictions with Alison Bechdel — hosted by McNally Jackson, 8 p.m. ET, more info.
Ayad Akhtar discusses Homeland Elegies with Evan Osnos — hosted by Politics & Prose, 8 p.m. ET, more info.
Claudia Rankine discusses Just Us: An American Conversation with Jennifer M. Wilks — hosted by BookPeople, 7 p.m. CT, more info.

Friday, Sept. 18

Tiffany D. Jackson discusses Grown with Bethany C. Morrow — hosted by MahoganyBooks, 7 p.m. ET, more info.
José Olivarez (Citizen Illegal), Amir Rabiyah (Prayers For My 17th Chromosome), Bridgette Bianca (Be/Trouble), Christopher Rivas, and Jessica Ceballos y Campbell present a poetry night fundraiser — hosted by Art Save the Vote and Skylight Books, 5 p.m. PT, more info.